Christmas
by Sam Waterston Fan
Summary: Sorry, I lost motivation to revise and post this story. Chapter 6 gives an explanation.
1. Default Chapter

In this story, Eric did NOT had a heart attack and George has NOT moved in with the Colonel and Ruth and Charles was not diagnosed with Alzheimer's' disease. The episode "Forget Me Not" has not happened in this story but the Christmas story does takes place in the fourth season.  
  
THIS STORY WILL BE DONE AND POSTED BY DECEMBER 23!! 


	2. 12 Drummers Drumming

Monday Dec. 13, 1999 12 Days before Christmas -  
  
-----12 Drummers Drumming ------  
  
Eric woke up on a beautiful Monday morning, just one week before Christmas. This would be the first Christmas with the twins and Erica, Julie's baby. After he got downstairs the kids were dressed since Annie had gotten breakfast ready and Matt, who was visiting, was feeding David while Mary fed Sam. They both were eating while feeding their youngest siblings.  
  
"Oh what a beautiful morning!" Eric exclaimed.  
  
"You certainly are in a good mood." Annie replied.  
  
"Oh yeah. I slept good and my parents are coming for Christmas." Eric said as he sat down to eat while Ruthie, Lucy, and Simon were finishing up.  
  
"Do we know when?" Lucy asks while Mary cleaned up Sam and Matt was doing the same to David.  
  
"No, not yet." Eric replies.  
  
"This will be the last Christmas of the 1900's and the 20th century." Mary says.  
  
"Yeah!! What do you mean?" Ruthie asked confused.  
  
"Well, New Years' Day will be January 1, 2000 as we head into a new century as well as a new year." Simon explains.  
  
"Cool." Ruthie says as everyone was cleaning their plates.  
  
Matt and Mary put Sam and David in their high chairs when Simon and Ruthie went to the car. Lucy, Mary and Matt went to the car heading for school while Eric gives Annie a kiss then leaves for work. Annie turns to the twins and says. "Looks like it's just us now." and smiles and takes them out of their high chairs and puts them in a play pen and sings to the boys while she does the laundry.  
  
Ruthie sings Jingle bells loudly as they drive to school.  
  
"Ruthie, that's enough!" Mary says.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Simon asks then continues, "Aren't you in the Christmas spirit?"  
  
"Hey, speaking of Christmas," Matt says, "I was thinking about us all doing something really special for Mom and Dad this Christmas."  
  
"Like What?" Lucy asks  
  
"I don't know something we can all do together."  
  
"I know," Mary says, "Let's get family picture taken of us all"  
  
"Or have someone paint a picture of us." Simon says.  
  
"Well, that's a great idea, Simon, but I think that might cost a bit more than we can afford." Matt says.  
  
Meanwhile back at the church Eric is just finishing up on his sermon, he's in a hurry because he wants to go to the mall to check out toys to buy for the twins and Erica for Christmas. He took notes on everything he saw at the mall and headed home for lunch where he talked to Annie about what he wanted to buy for the twins and Erica for Christmas. After lunch Annie puts the twins down for a nap and then heads out to do some shopping herself while Eric was at home.  
  
After Annie left, he called Mary at school to see if she can pick up Ruthie and Simon which she did. When Simon and his sisters came home, Eric was on the floor playing with the twins then twenty minutes later Annie came home. During dinner the phone rings Mary offers to get it which she goes in the kitchen to talk then a few minutes later she sits down to eat.  
  
"Who was on the phone Mary?" Annie asks.  
  
"One of my classmates, Jill."  
  
"What did she want?" Eric asks.  
  
"She just wanted me to know that she finished her homework and that I can call her if I need help on it since she has the same class, same teacher I have but different period."  
  
"You have Mr. Johnson in English?" Lucy asks.  
  
"Yeah." Mary replies.  
  
"He is hard."  
  
"You can say that again." Mary replies.  
  
"He is hard." Ruthie says copying what Lucy said as everyone busted out laughing.  
  
"Finish eating." Annie says as she gives David a bite from his spoon of his baby food.  
  
After dinner, Mary and Lucy did the dishes as Simon cleaned off the table while Annie was on the phone with Charles, Eric was playing with the twins and Ruthie finished up her homework. Everyone was finished with their chores then went upstairs to Mary's room for a meeting. Annie was taking a bath and Eric played 'Peek a Boo' with Sam and David in the living room.  
  
"Guess what? I have a friend whose dad is a photographer and can get us pictures for mom and dad for Christmas." Mary says.  
  
"Really? How much?" Lucy asks interested.  
  
"$20 for all of us including Matt, David and Sam. My friend gave me the times to when we can go to take the pictures and they can be developed the same day. What do you say?"  
  
"Yeah, great idea." Everyone replies.  
  
"Does Matt know?" Simon asks.  
  
"Yes, Matt knows. He has the times and days that has been scheduled for us."  
  
"So we can do it on a weekend." Ruthie says.  
  
"What if mom or dad see us?" Lucy asks.  
  
"Oh man. We can do it at night, just ask our friends' parents to say yes to us staying overnight while explaining that we want to surprise our parents and-." Ruthie says  
  
"Wait. There is one problem. Sam and David." Simon interrupts Ruthie.  
  
"Oh, the twins. Um..-" Ruthie starts to explain but is interrupted.  
  
"I got it. We can just ask Matt if he could ask mom and dad to watch the twins overnight or during the day then we can say we are going to a friends house as we take the pictures." Simon replies.  
  
"Yeah. Great idea Simon." Mary replies.  
  
A few minutes later Simon and the girls make a plan of what to do as they look at the scheduled times that was given as they call Matt to ask if they can see him after school tomorrow which they will see him. After they finish their meeting, Simon and Lucy go in the twins room to see what kind of clothes they have for the pictures then went to their room to finish their homework and ten minutes later Annie had finished her bath. Annie went downstairs to tell Eric that Sam and David needed to go to bed so they both put the boys down and later everyone went to bed. 


	3. 11 Pipers Piping

Tuesday Dec. 14, 1999 11 days before Christmas-  
  
----Eleven Pipers Piping-----  
  
Eric sat typing on his laptop when a woman in a red knee length dress and black heals comes in. Her long, curly blond hair flowed as she walked through the door and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief, she was there for counseling but that was not what she had in mind. She immediately she started openly flirting with Eric, he told her to sit down in the chair across from him but she slipped over to his side of the desk and sat on his lap. Eric was startled since he never expected her to go that far. But he was really in shock when she started kissing his neck, he squirmed uncomfortably, not knowing what to do about this woman on his lap. He laughed a little when she kissed the back of his neck and then kissed his cheek but he wasn't happy about what she was doing. Julie walked in just as Eric was trying to get the Catherine off his lap, when Catherine saw Julie she immediately got off him then laughed. Eric was completely relieved to see his younger sister.  
  
"Hi." Eric says to Julie.  
  
"Hi, what's going on?" Julie asked as she walked to the chair across from Eric. She was wearing black pants, black shoes, blue button downs shirt and her hair was in a pony tail.  
  
"I was trying to show him how to kiss a woman." Catherine said.  
  
"I can see that." Julie says folding her arms.  
  
"Here are some counselors to talk to the next time you need counseling." Eric says giving her a list of ministers around town.  
  
Catherine then leaves.  
  
"Thank you, thank you , thank you. Sis." Eric says to her with glee.  
  
"Does Christmas just bring out the worst in people or was that just a weird thing?"  
  
"I don't know but what can I do for you?" Eric responds then asks.  
  
"What do you think I can get Annie?"  
  
"When Annie and I were shopping she saw a really nice blanket at Target." Eric says.  
  
"Um, I think she wanted YOU to get it for her since she told you she loved it."  
  
"Oh, okay." Eric says then laughs.  
  
"Oh, I know what Hank and I can get her. Thanks." Julie says as she hugs her brother then leaves.  
  
Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon and Ruthie are at his apartment as Matt looks over their plans while John and Shana went shopping (Not together).  
  
"I like your idea about the Christmas present for mom and dad. But the idea about having your friend's parents lie to mom and dad about you coming over is not going to work and what if something happens to one of us or if mom needed one or all of you home for some reason and they don't know where you and I are."  
  
"Didn't think of that." Lucy says.  
  
"Man!! And I thought we can do this without mom and dad." Ruthie says in irritation.  
  
"Ruthie, Matt didn't say the idea was bad but how we go about it, that's all." Simon replies.  
  
"Anyway, I think we should decide on a date to do this, then a back up dates in case the first ones don't work."  
  
"What about the twins." Lucy asks.  
  
"I'll figure something out with Sam and David." Matt replies, then asks, "do you know what you want for Christmas?"  
  
"Here is the list of things we want for Christmas." Mary replies as she hands Matt a list with Lucy, Ruthie and Simon's names on them as Matt gives them a list as well.  
  
After they got home-  
  
"So where did you guys go?" Annie asked curiously since they had come home late at the same time.  
  
"We went to see Matt to see if he can take us shopping and take the twins too." Simon says.  
  
"I see. Lucy your friend, Cathy called." Annie says then Lucy thanks her then leaves to call her back.  
  
"So when will dinner be ready?" Ruthie asked.  
  
"In about an hour." Annie replied.  
  
Ruthie, Simon, and Mary went upstairs from the kitchen when they ran into Eric on the top of the stairs.  
  
"Oh, hey dad."  
  
"Hey, what's the rush?" Eric asks as the kids back up a little bit since they ran into him.  
  
"Oh, nothing. We just want to get our homework done." Mary says.  
  
"Yeah." Ruthie and Simon says.  
  
They kids then go to their rooms while Eric looked back at them since they seemed funny then walked downstairs to the kitchen.  
  
"Have you noticed the kids acting funny?" Eric asks as he helps Annie.  
  
"Well, they've been coming home late but I guess they just want to do Christmas shopping."  
  
Dinner was served then Mary, Lucy and Simon cleaned the kitchen while Eric was working on his sermon and Annie was giving the twins a bath. A few hours later everyone went to bed.  
  
**********Author's note: I'm going to try to update this story every day but if I miss a day, I will post two chapter to get it done by December 23.********** 


	4. Quick note

Author's notes.  
  
Sorry for the delay in posting, next time I put up a story I will put up two chapters and hopefully this story will be caught up. That's what happens when you procrastinate on college papers..LOL 


	5. 10 Lords Leaping

Wednesday Dec. 15, 1999 10 days before Christmas-  
  
--------Ten Lords Leaping-------  
  
Eric was at work when Catherine came to his office again to ask him a question that got him annoyed.  
  
"Hi, I want to know if you are doing anything tonight, cause I would love for you to go to a motel with me." Catherine said while standing near the front of his desk where he was seated across from her.  
  
"Look, You are a very nice lady, and nice looking but I am happily married and don't want to do anything to jeopardize that.  
  
"Well, I don't give up that easily and you will want me eventually." Catherine said as she was leaving his office  
  
Eric went back to work but wondered why she was not leaving him alone.  
  
Walter Reed Junior High-  
  
Simon was walking to class when he saw Deena at her locker then walked up.  
  
"Hey, I was wondering if I could take you out to the ice cream Shoppe after school."  
  
"I'd love to but I got homework." Deena says.  
  
"I can come to your house and help you after I get home."  
  
"Okay Simon." Deena says then the bell rang and they went their separate ways.  
  
John F. Kennedy High-  
  
"So Lucy, what are you doing for Christmas?" Jessica, Lucy's friend asked while they were talking at Lucy's locker.  
  
"Staying home. My grandparents are coming from New York and Arizona. How about you?"  
  
"I'm leaving for Wilmington, North Carolina with my mom and dad. I'm going to see my grandparents there too."  
  
The bell rang, Lucy and Jessica went to class. Mary was walking down the hall when she saw Jack who is in her English class, she went up to him to ask if he can help her for the test which he said yes.  
  
After school, Mary goes to Eric's office to see if he had any idea when the Colonel and Ruth were coming, Eric was doing his sermon.  
  
"Hey Mary. What's up?"  
  
"I was wondering when the Colonel and grandma Ruth are coming." Mary asks as her dad takes off his reading glasses then sits back a little.  
  
"They are coming on Wednesday afternoon." Eric tells her.  
  
"What about Grandpa and Ginger?"  
  
"Sunday after Church." Eric responds.  
  
"You don't have any Christmas music?"  
  
"No, why?" Eric says as he kind of laughs.  
  
"Just seems kind of boring. If you have no counseling sessions then why not?" Mary responds then continues, "I'll see you in a little bit." Mary then leaves.  
  
"Okay." He replies putting his glasses back on and going over his sermon.  
  
Mary then calls Matt about an hour after dinner since Simon came home before dinner from Deena's.  
  
"Okay, We should do it on Friday." Mary says as Lucy was sitting on Mary's bed. Simon and Ruthie were on Lucy's bed sitting facing Mary like Lucy was.  
  
Matt then calls Annie.  
  
"Mom? Hey, can I take the twins and the kids out shopping on Friday?"  
  
"Sure. I was hoping if you don't mind picking up Ruthie and Simon as well."  
  
"Okay, no problem. Bye." Matt says then hangs up.  
  
Mary figures everything is set as the kids do their homework while Lucy was talking to Annie while watching tv in the living room.  
  
"Mom, I need to meet my friend, Jack at the library tomorrow. He's going to help me with my homework. Is that ok?"  
  
"That's fine Luce but make sure Mary take you. If she can't, I will or your father will."  
  
"Thanks." Lucy says then goes upstairs when Mary goes to the living room and Eric happens to walk by.  
  
"Mom, we need more toilet paper."  
  
"I can go get some." Eric offers.  
  
"Okay." Annie says.  
  
"I'm going to get some now. Bye." Eric says then leaves.  
  
"Okay." Annie says as Ruthie comes downstairs to see what Annie was doing when she sees her dad leave and Mary went back upstairs to her room.  
  
"What are we doing?"  
  
"I'm watching tv, and the Christmas episode of The Dick Van Dyke is coming on, wanna watch?" Annie asks as Ruthie sits next to her.  
  
"Okay."  
  
At the store-  
  
Eric picks up the brand toilet paper that Annie always gets and turns to go pay for it. A woman who was down the same isle who had been eyeing him the whole time says,  
  
"That's a wonderful brand of toilet paper. I like it because it's soft on the behind."  
  
Eric smiles, then responds, "Um yeah I guess it is." he smiles and turns to walk away again thinking how strange the lady was and turns a shade of red.  
  
As Eric walks to the car, he realizes she is still watching him and following him which really bothers him. While he is getting in the car she pretends to accidentally bump into him which causes him to drop his bag then when he bends to retrieve the bag, she bends down too and kisses him.  
  
"Uh, look, I don't know why you are following me and I don't know why you would kiss a total stranger but, I'm married with 5 kids and twins on the way and I'm very happy so, don't take this the wrong way but I..." Eric tells her then is interrupted.  
  
"You're not a total stranger. I go to your church. " She responds.  
  
"Then you know I'm happily married with 5 kids and twins on the way." He said starting to get a little aggravated with women coming on to him and knowing he was married.  
  
"Well, yeah but you are just so darn sexy I just couldn't help myself." She says then walks to her car and Eric put the bag in the passenger seat that he dropped.  
  
When Eric locks the door to the car then goes in, locks the door and realizes the house is quiet. He then drops off the toilet paper in the bathroom and notices everyone is in their rooms asleep. He goes to his room to find Annie in her sexy lingerie giving him a sexy look and crooks her finger as to tell him to come to her.  
  
Eric sees her then says, "Oh no, not you too" He closes the door then looks at Annie.  
  
"What?" Annie sits up a little then says confused.  
  
"What is it with women today? Is there a full moon?" he says looking out the window to see if the moon is full.  
  
"Eric, what are you talking about?" She asked confused.  
  
"I'm talking about... Oh never mind! I'm just not in the mood, Okay?"  
  
"What is with women today?" Eric asks then says quietly as he walks in the bathroom, "Why can't you women just leave me alone?"  
  
While in the bathroom he brushes his teeth, changes into his night clothes then comes to bed. He turns off the light as he climbs in the bed.  
  
Annie cuddles next to him and tells him, "I bet I can get you in the mood."  
  
Eric suddenly sits up and says, "I'm not a toy you women can turn on anytime you feel the urge to play!"  
  
Annie looks at him baffled as to how mad he has gotten.  
  
"I'm sleeping on the couch!" Eric yells as he puts on his robe, grabs his pillow then opens and closes the door.  
  
Annie sits there for a few minutes longer then goes to sleep not knowing what is wrong with her husband. 


	6. 9 Ladies Dancing

Thursday Dec. 16, 1999 9 days before Christmas------  
  
-------Nine Ladies Dancing------  
  
Eric gets up earlier than usual, gets dressed and goes to have breakfast at the restaurant that is close to the church while Annie wakes up then goes downstairs to see Eric is gone, looks all over the house gets a little worried but when the kids come down she makes breakfast.  
  
"Mary, would you mind taking me to the library after school and picking me up?" Lucy asks when they both sit down.  
  
"If it's okay with mom, I will." Mary says as Ruthie and Simon sit down as well.  
  
"I asked her already." Lucy says as Annie puts the pancakes on the dish on the table.  
  
"Okay." Mary says then Matt comes over to see if he could help with the twins. Lucy helps Ruthie with her plate as Simon and Mary eat.  
  
"Would you mind seeing if they are awake and if they are, please change them?" Annie asks.  
  
"Okay mom." Matt says then goes upstairs to see if his youngest brothers were awake.  
  
Ten minutes later the kids leave, Matt comes down to tell her they are awake, changed and he dressed them with them in his arms.  
  
"Thanks Matt." Annie says as she puts David in his high chair, then Matt puts Sam in his.  
  
Annie then sits down to eat while feeding Sam on her right side and David on her left as Matt did the dishes. Then the phone rings and Annie picks it up as Matt who was finished with the dishes was feeding the twins since they were almost done while Annie went in the living room to talk.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi. Eric is interested in me and if you want him safe, you must leave him." Catherine says.  
  
"What? Who is this?"  
  
"Never mind who this is, just leave him if you don't want him to be hurt." Catherine says then hangs up.  
  
Annie walks back to the kitchen, hangs up the phone then sees that Matt had cleaned up the twins since they were done then offered to watch them if she wanted to do some stuff which she said okay to. Annie then goes upstairs to get dressed then tells Matt she is going to run some errands.  
  
Meanwhile-  
  
Catherine is outside the church parking lot hanging up the phone from talking to Annie then goes in, sees the sanctuary doors are open then sees Eric. Eric is in the sanctuary praying sitting on the pews towards the aisle when Catherine comes and sneaks up on him, she puts his arms around his neck then starts to kiss his ear. He turns around to apologize for the way he acted last night then he sees it's Catherine, then jumps up.  
  
"I told you! I am not interested!!" Eric yells.  
  
Catherine then moves around to the same side of the pew as Eric while she comes towards him telling him, "Come on, I know you want me Eric. I can see it in your eyes."  
  
They are interrupted by Lou who walks in then as Catherine leaves she says something to Eric.  
  
"Your wife is leaving you, she told me." Catherine says as she walks out as Lou and Eric's mouths are open in disbelief.  
  
"What was that?" Lou asked concerned.  
  
"Lou, you got to help me! She's been coming on to me for the past several days now! I told her I wasn't interested and am happily married but she won't leave me alone! What should I do?"  
  
"You should get a restraining order put on her." Lou responds.  
  
"I don't want to go to those extremes but.."  
  
"I don't know Eric, it almost sounded as she was threatening you and your family." Lou said.  
  
Lou then goes to his office then Eric goes to his to his office but sees Annie was there then they both talk.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hey. What are you doing here? Who is watching Sam and David?" Eric asked as he gave Annie a hug as she gave him one too then they sit on the couch.  
  
"Oh, Matt is watching them. I um.. got an interesting call awhile ago."  
  
"You did?" Eric asked confused.  
  
"Um, some lady called me to tell me that you wanted to leave me. Eric, I don't know what got into you last night and I'm sorry if I made you so angry but do you really feel this way?"  
  
"No, I don't want to leave you. I'm sorry for the way I over reacted. Catherine might have been the one who called you because she's been pretty much harassing me and I've told her that I am not interested." Eric says.  
  
"So what are you going to do Eric?"  
  
"I'm going to go call Detective Michaels and see if he can get me a restraining order against her then we'll see what happens from there." Eric says as they both went to the phone and made the call.  
  
Then a few minutes later Detective Michaels calls Eric and tells him the order has been given to her and they will keep an eye on her as well. Annie then calls Matt to see if he has classes which he doesn't then tells him that she's going to go to lunch with Eric and will be home a little later. Matt tells her okay then after he hangs up he feeds the twins and eats then after he finishes up, cleans up the kitchen and plays with them in the living room.  
  
During lunch recess at Walter Reed-  
  
Simon has his lunch when he sees Deena being kissed then the guy who kissed her leaves her and walks up to him.  
  
"Deena says she wants to break up with you. She's mine, Camden" Joe, who is about the same age as Deena and Simon says then laughs as he walks away.  
  
Deena stood there shocked as to what happened but didn't see Joe go up to Simon then Simon walks away a little angry and hurt. He didn't have lunch since he wasn't hungry after seeing Deena get kissed then as he walked to his locker the bell rang and the students went to class. Deena tried to go see Simon since her friend had told her about him seeing Joe kiss her.  
  
After Annie and Eric have lunch, he goes back to work, Annie goes home to see the Matt asleep on the couch as the twins were in the play pen sleeping, Annie wakes him up to find out he had been asleep for an hour then he left to go do some homework and Annie started watching some TV. Few hours later Mary picks up Simon, Ruthie and takes Lucy to the library then Mary and her two siblings go home. Simon goes upstairs to his room, closes the door then lays on his bed with his chin on the foot of the bed, Mary helped Ruthie with her homework then an hour before dinner was ready, Eric got home. Lucy called a half hour later to say she was ready since she got help for her class and Mary went to pick her up and then when they came home dinner was ready.  
  
"Simon? What are we doing? Dinner's ready." Ruthie tells her brother as he was moping.  
  
"I'm not doing anything! I'm not hungry! Now leave me alone!"  
  
"Simon!" Mary yelled at her brother.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Don't be so mean. She was telling you dinner was ready." Mary says.  
  
"Mary, shut up." Simon says then Mary leaves to eat.  
  
"What's holding up Simon?" Annie asks as Eric feeds Sam, Mary feeds David.  
  
"He says he's not hungry." Mary says as she wiped David's mouth.  
  
"I'll have a plate for later if he gets hungry." Annie says as she eats with everyone else but Simon.  
  
Thirty minutes later everyone finished as Annie took the twins upstairs with Lucy's help to give them a bath, Mary and Ruthie were doing their homework when Simon came downstairs while Eric was cleaning the kitchen.  
  
"Hey. You hungry?" Eric asks.  
  
"Yeah." Simon says as he sits down while Eric put his plate in the microwave.  
  
"So how is school going?" Eric asked as he finished the dishes when the microwave beeped.  
  
"School is going good." Simon said as Eric put the plate down in front of his son and gave him a glass of milk then sits next to his son.  
  
"So you excited for Christmas?"  
  
"Yeah, who isn't?" Simon says as he takes a few bites.  
  
After Simon was done, Eric had put the dishes in the dishwasher then started to watch TV then fell asleep while Annie finished up on giving the twins a bath, she and Lucy were getting them ready for bed. Few minutes later after everyone goes to bed, Annie takes a bath then after she was done she got ready and went downstairs to see what Eric was up to. She saw he was asleep so she woke him up then she told him that she was going to bed, he got up, turned off the TV then after turning the light off they both went to bed after putting their sleep clothes on.  
  
Author's notes.  
  
To the reviewer who asked about Sam and David: They are about a year old.  
  
Author's notes.  
  
I'm afraid I have lost the motivation to revise and post the rest of 12 Days of Christmas due to the fact I was working my butt off on my research paper to get it done on time, which I did.  
  
There is another Camden Christmas story that was revised and is posted, will be finished by December 23 since it's short.  
  
This will be the last chapter for this story. 


End file.
